Did Flippage owe Septonian knowledge of his true gender? If we can pretend to be wizards and knights and elves and royalty, why can't we cross such a mundane line as the male-female one? Flippage did no more than create a character in a game, and the progression of that character carried him down this road. Yet, while Flippage had some right to create his own persona and enjoy it in a fantasy world, the line between fantasy and reality was bridged, and a relationship was taken into the real realm. When did he owe Septonian a true explanation, if ever?
Flippage was simply using a roleplaying game to, well, roleplay. The surprise and anger directed at Flippage was, in part, because he broke the conventions of in-game roleplay: Instead of playing a female mage wandering the lands of Aden in the name of Einhasad, Flippage was playing a female playing a male mage. He was roleplaying a meta-character, something that traditionally is met with scorn in roleplaying communities.
Harmless roleplay turned lethal, though, when Flippage met Septonian. While the former did no more than continue to playact, suddenly there was another character that didn't realize he was part of a play. Septonian was dealing with real emotions in his real life. Even if Flippage didn't owe the world an explanation of his choice of play, he could have easily distanced himself from Septonian.
The fact that Flippage never intended to steal from Septonian was one of the wildest cards he played. When Flippage was outed, no one was sure of his motivation. Why did he fool Septonian? What did he gain? If Flippage had stripped Septonian of his gear, the answer would be obvious. But instead, Flippage left Septonian and his friends bewildered and angry.
Flippage soon left Lineage. While he kept in contact with a few friends, the joke-gone-wild was a heavy blow for him, and even for the community left behind; in the small English-speaking roleplaying community, distrust for anyone claiming to be female ran rampant, and many who knew Septonian and Flippage took extra precautions in their personal dealings with others. Ironically enough, this had little effect on the population of guys who faked femininity to earn items.
Now that time has smoothed over the situation, Septonian looks back on his reaction with some regret. "[Breaking into Flippage's account] seemed like a good idea back then because I had been lied to for weeks, if not months ... Of course, I regret doing that now, because the guy probably never meant to hurt me, and my punishment to him was very harsh for something which was probably meant to be a one-time joke that just turned into a long unfolding web of lies. To think of it, I've never told him I was sorry."
Laura Genender is a Staff Writer for MMORPG.com, and is also an Editor for Prima Strategy Guides.
